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Surgeon in inquiry agrees not to
practice

Health - Until his
case is
closed in Australia, Dr. Jayant M.
Patel's license will be suspended in Oregon

Friday, July 14,
2006

DON COLBURN

Dr.
Jayant M. Patel, the former Portland surgeon facing
possible criminal charges in Australia, has agreed not to
practice medicine in the United States, at least until the
Australian investigation is completed.

The
agreement, between Patel and the Oregon Board of Medical
Examiners, suspends his Oregon license indefinitely and bars
him from applying for a medical license in any state. It
ends local proceedings against Patel in the meantime.

Patel,
56, signed the order June 30, and the Oregon medical
board, which regulates the practice of medicine statewide,
unanimously approved it Thursday.

The
agreement, called an interim stipulated order, says
Patel's license will remain suspended until he proves
"that the criminal and administrative process against
him in Australia is complete," with all penalties and
conditions satisfied.

Board members said that
effectively ends Patel's
career, protecting patients without a costly, protracted
legal battle. The Australian case could take years to
resolve.

"It came as a bit of a surprise, but we
were happy to
get it," Dr. David Grube, chairman of the Oregon
medical board, said of Patel's agreement not apply for
a license in any state.

Patel, who got his
medical degree in his native India, was a
general surgeon at Kaiser Permanente in Portland from 1989
until 2001. Kaiser restricted him from doing complex
surgeries in 1998, and the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners
disciplined him for negligence in 2000.

The
medical board proposed last October to discipline Patel
further for failing to notify Oregon regulators of his move
to Australia in 2003 and other alleged violations. The board
had expected him to contest that move in a hearing next week
-- until the new signed order made that hearing moot.

Theoretically,
Patel could apply for a license in another
country. But Oregon board officials said they would use the
Patel case to lobby the International Association of Medical
Regulatory Authorities for a global data bank that would
alert employers to disciplinary actions against doctors
worldwide.

After quitting Kaiser, Patel became
chief of surgery at the
largest hospital in Queensland, Australia. He made
international headlines in March 2004 after complaints about
his hiring, surgical technique and rude behavior erupted
into a heavily publicized political and medical scandal,
prompting the state commission's inquiry.

An
Australian commission concluded in November that
negligence by Patel led to the deaths of 13 patients. The
panel recommended that police investigate Patel's
"unacceptable" conduct for manslaughter, fraud and
assault.

The Australian commission found that
Patel "knowingly
misled" Queensland officials by falsifying his work
history and failing to disclose that he had been disciplined
for negligence in Oregon -- and also repeatedly performed
surgical operations at Bundaberg Base Hospital that he had
been forbidden to do in Oregon.